subject: The Use Of Pressure Reducing Mattresses In Pressure Care [print this page] What is Pressure Care Management? Is it related to stress management? The answer is no. Pressure Care Management is a specialty of the long-term care profession. For many decades one of the main tasks of medical personnel in long-term care management was the turning and moving patients to avoid ulcers that would develop called pressure ulcers. Pressure ulcers result from the constant pressure on certain points of a patients body that results from being effectively and almost completely motionless. The constant pressure inhibits blood flow and promotes the breakdown of the tissues in the pressure points that are common areas of contact with the surface. Even in a health person such exposure would result in pressure ulcers with constant exposure.
Factors of Condition
These conditions are made worse by a number of factors, first is friction. In patients that are bed-ridden but motive the constant need to shift for comfort results in friction which irritates the skin and promotes the formation of pressure ulcers. This is also caused by patients being moved into and out of bed for testing or therapy. Second is frailty.
Unfortunately, the vast majority of individuals in need of pressure care management are elderly and frail. This usually involves dry or thinning skin and that make them highly susceptible to pressure ulcers. This is a significant challenge as the elderly are most often in circumstances that lead to prolonged bed rest even without illness. The constant pressure on certain points for them means that in a very short time they can develop lesions or ulcers that can become infected.
Modern Relief
The science of pressure care management has advanced greatly in the recent years. With the advent of modern materials and technology special bedding has been developed that mitigates the causes of pressure ulcers. These are known as "Pressure Reducing Mattresses." There are two types; Dynamic and Static. Static pressure reducing mattresses are made of specially developed foam materials that are designed to minimize the effects of pressure by distributing the pressure over greater area and thus reduce the possibility of ulcer development.
This works by allowing the mattress to form to the shape of the patients body, whether lying on the back or side, thus relieving the main source of pressure points. For many years this was the state of the art in pressure care management. This is no longer the case, there are those patients that can not be moved and will remain so for the rest of their lives. For them a static solution is not adequate.
This led to the Dynamic pressure reducing mattress, which works by gently increasing and decreasing the air pressure contained in cylindrical cells that form the mattress in sequence to relieve the pressure actively. This has lead to a revolution in patient care and comfort. Care givers are freed to focus on the more critical aspects of patient care and the patients are kept comfortable and rested, important for the promotion of good general health. For anyone who is bed-ridden a proper Pressure Reducing Mattress is vital to proper care.
